According to Morse's campaign finance reports, Timothy Leary -- president of the firefighters union -- is the only Holyoke firefighter who has donated to the mayor's campaign fund.

Leary has given $250 since Nov. 30, 2011.

According to a job posting for the deputy chief position in Holyoke, eligibility for the job is limited to members of the Holyoke Fire Department who've already attained the rank of captain or lieutenant. As I understand it, the city's Fire Commission ultimately makes the appointment for such promotions, but applications for the promotions are initially routed through the state's Human Resources Division.

I've gotta wonder if he knew the Willimansett Bridge is closed for construction and didn't realize that it's supposed to be open to pedestrian traffic. The detour by car is 391, so it's possible he thought that applied to kids on bikes, too.

Glad people called, and glad the MSP was there to get him out of harm's way.

It's worth noting that Easthampton has employed an arts coordinator since 2006. The current coordinator's salary is about $36,400.

The Northampton Arts Council was founded in 1980 and currently employs 2 part-time staff.

I don't know that a lot of people in western Mass. in the 1990s would have thought of Easthampton as a hub for the arts then, and it seems like Northampton only really cultivated that side of its economy beginning in the mid- to late-1980s.

The story above was posted literally within minutes of the arraignment wrapping up -- at that point, Diane had just enough time to call me with the bail amount, and I'd already been working up the information on the NJ case.

There's a new story up now that sheds more light on the current charges.

Believe Hoyoaker was asking whether readers would have to pay to read stories, which they won't. We're not introducing a paywall, and we have no plans to.

But, since you brought up the issue of free speech, it's worth noting: users of this site should have absolutely no expectation of "free speech" when they post here.

We're not the government. We're a private corporate entity and, as such, we're free to dictate the terms of use of this site. Comments that violate those terms are deleted by the moderation team we've hired.

I agree, sometimes they delete comments that *I* do not think violate the terms of use. When I see that happen, I recommend that they restore the comment.

A lot of people raise the "free speech" question in reference to our moderation policies, which always leaves me a little puzzled. The phrase "freedom of speech", as most people use it, comes from the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

The first amendment reads, in full:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The Constitution only bans Congress -- not privately held companies, like MassLive.com and The Republican -- from limiting speech.

The best tip I can give is to avoid posting comments about site moderation. That almost always guarantees deletion (I'm actually surprised they didn't nab your comment already). The reason they give for that is that comments about moderation are "off topic" -- ideally, we want the discussion to be exclusively about the content of the story at hand.

As an aside, the mayor linked to this article from his Facebook page, writing:

"Good work by the Holyoke Police Department. Chief Neiswanger and I have worked to strengthen our narcotics division. This is our City - we must send the message that Holyoke is not a place to buy and sell drugs, or commit crimes. Most of these arrests are not city residents. Join us in reclaiming our neighborhoods."

Learning the song "Come Little Leaves" in Mrs. Smith's first-grade class. Coming to school on the day after the Challenger explosion (I'd been out sick from Mrs. Meunier's second-grade class on the day it happened). Mrs. Coe's art classes (looks like she's still there!). Raiding the library for books to read during sleepovers (yes, I was the type of kid who liked to use sleepovers as a chance to stay up late and read). Visits from Tom Ricardi and his birds of prey (I talked to Tom the other day, and he told me he still visits the school). The fact that when my family moved in the middle of third grade Mr. Mathison was kind enough to write a very nice letter introducing me to my new teacher.

Best of all, the one day a year or so when "waffles and sausage" popped up on the lunch menu.